In May 2018, just over a year after our first visit to Costa Rica, I compiled a list of my favorite restaurants in Tamarindo. You can see the full roundup here, but in summary, I selected the following (in alphabetical order):
- Asian Fusion
- Breakfast Grinds
- Café Nordico
- Café Tico
- Enea’s
- La Baula
- La Bodega
- La Esquina
- Longboards
- Noguis
- Pasta Casera
- Surf Shack
We are obviously adept at picking the good places to eat, because a year and a half later, all of them are still in business!
One of the things that we love so much about Tamarindo is that we will never lack for interesting restaurants to visit, for such a small town. While the food generally isn’t as cheap as you might expect for the region of the world, you can understand why when you consider the quality of the food and that the restaurants are catering to a tourist community.
On our recent full month in Costa Rica this past September, we had plenty of time to try out new restaurants. Below you’ll find even more restaurants to add to our favorites.
If you are curious to see how much of our budget was consumed by food, check out How Much We Spent Living In Costa Rica For One Month.
The best restaurant in Tamarindo is Dragonfly – fit for foodies and comfort food lovers alike
Although Scott and I live in New York City, we avoid the trendy restaurants that foodies frequent. This explains why it wasn’t untill this last trip, over two years since our first visit to Costa Rica, that we dined at Dragonfly.
One look at Dragonfly’s menu and you can see that your aspiring chef friend would love it. I had the “sesame seared yellowfin tuna with jasmine rice, sautéed vegetables, sweet Asian sauce and wasabi aioli.”
Scott had the “fiery Thai beef prepared with a chili-lime marinade over cool rice noodles topped with chopped peanuts…” The description goes on for two more lines and 10 more ingredients.
I was expecting to “appreciate” my dinner, like one appreciates classical music, and then hurry off home to fill up with a real treat. I was wrong.
Dragonfly was so good that we went back (and it was just as good the second time). It was the most expensive restaurant that we visited, although still less than half the price of a comparable meal in New York City. It was worth every penny.
It was so good I kept thinking of how much I wanted to share the experience with my foodie friends who had the taste buds to really appreciate the place. It was so good that even the water (infused with cucumber) was delicious. It was so good that the meal just got better as it went along, with the desserts being the best part.
Pictured here is the churro bowl with caramel ice cream, and an edible chocolate spoon! At the top of the post is the amazing homemade coconut ice cream tempura with a passionfruit marmalade. I wasn’t sure that passionfruit marmalade could satisfy my sweet tooth, but these desserts delivered.
Three more options for a nice dinner out are La Pachanga, Shrimp Hole and the Tamarindo Night Market
La Pachanga
Not as fancy as Dragonfly but still a good option for a night out is Italian restaurant, La Pachanga. I had the gnocchi with bolognese, which was a special, but I hope it’s offered frequently b/c it’s excellent. Scott had the pizza, which we didn’t like as much (my favorite pizza is at La Baula, Scott prefers the thicker crusts at La Esquina). Still, we would absolutely return to La Pachanga for the pasta and the place – open area, friendly service. We sat in the outdoor area since it’s a quiet street at night.
Shrimp Hole
Unlike la Pachanga and Dragonfly, which are only open for dinner, Shrimp Hole serves lunch and dinner and has three types of seating – a casual outdoor bar that is hopping during the high season, an outdoor picnic table seating area and an air-conditioned inside dining room.
I had The Classic, which is grilled shrimp, Hawaiian mac salad and rice. Scott had The Tico, which is grilled shrimp in a sweet and spicy chili and mango sauce, grilled veggies and rice. Both were delicious.
Tamarindo Night Market
The Tamarindo Night Market runs on Thursday evenings, weather permitting, and features open-air stands from restaurants and independent vendors. You can get a wide variety of cuisines from sushi to Caribbean to ribs to desserts (including a Nutella donut!). Our favorite vendors include the pineapple cake lady, Indian samosa stand and Masa Madre.
The pineapple cake lady sells different cakes and pies, but always has the pineapple cake on offer, and it is her best. We returned for the pineapple cake every week – it was that good. We also sampled her chocolate cake, flan, and caramel pie – all delicious, but if you have to choose, go pineapple. The cakes were so good that we forgot to get photos!
The samosa stand is run by a British expat and only sells one type of samosa in units of 2, 7 or 12. They come with a tasty mango salsa, though the samosas are delicious enough plain. I alternated between dipping and not so I could have both the salsa and the plain version. I’m getting hungry just writing this. We went twice, going for 7 and 12 samosas, so we’d have some leftover.
Masa Madre is a bakery and food lab that operates a regular store in the venue where the Tamarindo Night Market pops up on Thursday. For the Night Market, Masa Madre offers a delicious pulled pork sandwich as well as meat lasagna and pizza.
We also visited Masa Madre one morning to pick up 2 of their quiche’s for breakfast, which were out of this world.
Masa Madre also has the best croissant in Tamarindo. You have to get there early, but you will be rewarded with the most amazing chocolate croissants. This video shows how they are made, and it will make your mouth water!
More comfort food discoveries represent cuisines around the world
Our go-to cuisine can best be described as comfort food, which is why we returned to Surf Shack and Longboards multiple times on this trip (profiled in our earlier favorites). However, we also discovered several more comfort food places, each of which represented a different part of the world.
Anthony’s Asian
Anthony’s Asian is a food stand right in the busiest part of Tamarindo. Run by a Filipino family, it serves Filipino dishes, but also some Thai and Japanese. We went there several times, and the portions are so generous we often have several meals from one order.
Everything we’ve tried is good — pancit, adobo, pad thai, sushi. My favorite was the fish special – that day it was red snapper fried whole, bone-in, with rice and salad. It was like eating at your grandma’s kitchen.
Bar & Restaurant Chinese
Another Asian place we went to multiple times was Bar & Restaurant Chinese, just outside the main Tamarindo commercial area. It’s not as good as the Chinese food you would get in the Chinatown of New York City or San Francisco, but the selection is amazing, the portions are big and the prices are great.
We had the typical favorites – sweet and sour chicken, pan fried noodles, fried rice, dumplings. If you’re craving Chinese, you’ll find what you want at B&R. As a special bonus, it is air conditioned!
Little Lucha
If you want Mexican, look for Little Lucha. I do mean look for it since it’s a very tiny shop, and it’s not well lit. Unless you’re looking for it, you might miss it or think it’s closed. However, if you can find it, it’s delicious and a great value. Scott had a selection of tacos, and I had the burrito – the best I’ve had, and there are good Mexican places in New York City. Tacos are discounted on Tuesday!
Falafel Bar
For the softest pita bread you will ever eat (seriously, they were like clouds), check out The Falafel Bar. A small, but beautifully decorated Mediterranean café. Scott had a sandwich. I had a platter, which came with the pita, hummus, salad, rice, and chicken – way too much food, but all delicious.
Heads-up: their credit card reader only processes dollars, so be sure to bring colons if you want the best exchange rate.
Another heads-up: sometimes there is someone outside the café giving out coupons for 10% off – a nice discount on top of very reasonable prices.
Wrap Soda
If you want a truly local comfort food experience, go to a Costa Rican “Soda” – a traditional Costa Rican small eatery frequented mainly by locals. There are Sodas in every town, and several in Tamarindo.
The main dish is the casado (literal translation is “married man” but alas these Sodas aren’t matchmakers). In the restaurant context, a casado is a Costa Rican bento box – a little bit of rice and beans, salad, plantains and meat or fish.
Our favorite soda in Tamarindo is Wrap Soda, on the quiet side of Tamarindo. Unlike other Sodas, Wrap Soda is brightly lit and appears newly renovated. I had the fish casado, and every part of it was delicious – the fish was a whitefish, grilled, very fresh.
Three more breakfast finds – more great breakfast places than days of the week
I profiled five breakfast places in my first round-up of favorite restaurants, and we discovered three more – essentially, we have more places to have breakfast than days of the week.
Santa Rita Café
Don’t miss Santa Rita Café – a second floor restaurant in the middle of town. You really have to look for it because there isn’t ground-level signage, but once you’re up there, it’s so quaint – comfy seating, a small play area for children, books and toys strewn around. There are lots of creative options, including different coffees and juices. I had tomato soup with my breakfast – odd for the time of day, but delicious.
NOI Bistro
Another great sit-down place for breakfast is NOI Bistro, right in the center of the busy commercial area but with a very relaxed Parisian vibe. The fresh lemonade looked like it had a jungle in the glass – too much greenery in my eyes, but it tasted great.
I ordered a casado there, and it was traditionally prepared. We finished off our meal with the homemade banana bread!
Waffle Monkey
Waffle Monkey is a food stand in the center of town with very fresh Belgian waffles and creative toppings. The owner is a surfer from Brazil and quite friendly. I enjoyed the conversation as much as the waffle.
Add these 12 restaurants to your list for your next visit to Tamarindo
In alphabetical order, here are the 12 additional Tamarindo restaurants we enjoyed on our trip, and you should add to your own meal plan on your next visit:
- Anthony’s Asian
- Bar & Restaurant Chinese
- Dragonfly
- Falafel Bar
- La Pachanga
- Little Lucha
- NOI Bistro
- Santa Rita Café
- Shrimp Hole
- Tamarindo Night Market
- Waffle Monkey
- Wrap Soda
If I had to pick my top 3, I would pick Dragonfly, Wrap Soda and Tamarindo Night Market. But it really depends on what type of food you like, what ambiance you need and how much you want to spend. There are restaurants for all tastes and budgets.
Keep in mind that we went during low season, and some restaurants we wanted to try were closed. So look for even more recommendations next year when we get a chance to try even more places!
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Have you been to Tamarindo? What is your favorite restaurant?
We are Scott and Caroline, 50-somethings who spent the first 20+ years of our adult lives in New York City, working traditional careers and raising 2 kids. We left full-time work in our mid-40’s for location-independent, part-time consulting projects and real estate investing, in order to create a more flexible and travel-centric lifestyle. 
Financial independence and early retirement is not something we originally focused on, but over time realized it was possible. Our free report, 
